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Last year, overdoses killed more people than guns or car accidents. In 2017, there were more than 72,000 overdose deaths in the United States, and heroin-related overdoses have increased 533 percent (yes, five hundred and thirty-three percent) between 2002 and 2016.
How do we know this? Those figures are spelled out in Matt York’s new video for his latest single, “I Lost My Baby to the Needle.” The Boston musician’s latest track, a chilling acoustic number dealing in stone cold honesty about the struggles of addiction, is a stark reminder of our current epidemic. The video, directed by his wife, Beth York, stars two real-life Massachusetts residents, Samantha and Derek, who are in long-term recovery and are in the process of building and developing a 12-step home and program called Revelations Recovery.
York’s forthcoming 2019 album, Bruisable Heart, is about addiction and recovery. And it was his own path that led him to writing this song.
“I put out an album a little over a year ago that was about alcoholism,” York tells Vanyaland. “I don’t drink anymore, but being in the music world, you’re obviously always around drinking. I was then asked to perform at a couple of addiction benefits. I heard a lot of stories from spouses, parents, and people who were in recovery and the stories just really resonated with me.”
The Yorks wanted to combine the reality of the current drug crisis with the notion for hope, placing sobering statistics in the video as a clean, happy, and visibly appreciative Samantha and Derek walk along the beach.
“Our intention is to really spread the word organically through the recovery community because, unlike a typical music video, that’s really who we’re trying to reach,” York adds.
At the end of the Yorks’ video, there’s a hotline for “people taking steps towards their recover,” and that number is 800-662-HELP. Watch the video below.